The present invention concerns file menu support for encapsulated programs. The present invention is an improvement of technology disclosed within U.S. patent application No. 07/292,610, filed on Dec. 30, 1988 by William M. Crow, et al., abandoned, continuation filed U.S. patent application No. 08/336,718 on Nov. 11, 1994, the subject matter of which is herein incorporated by reference.
One problem that has made computer use difficult is inefficient file management systems. For instance, there is often data incompatibility between data files which are originated by different computer applications. Typically, each computer application operates independently from other computer applications. It is extremely rare that data from one computer application may be effectively incorporated into data from another application. If data is incorporated, it is difficult if not impossible to modify. Furthermore, once data has been transferred from a first application to a second application, it is usually impossible to return the data back to the first application to be modified.
Once an environment has been presented which allows the effective transfer of data between applications, there remains the problem of upward compatibility for applications which were not originally designed to function in the environment.
One solution is the NewWave Desktop manager which provides a file management system which is currently used in conjunction with Microsoft Windows operating system. The NewWave Desktop manager is available from Hewlett Packard Co., having a business address of 3000 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, Calif. 94304. Microsoft Windows operating system is an operating system available from Microsoft Corporation, having a business address at 16011 NE 36th Way, Redmond, Wash. 98073-9717.
In previous versions of the NewWave Desktop manager, icons representing newly created data files have generally not been displayed on Desktop window until after the application is closed. In addition, in order to bring a multiple document interface (MDI) child window to the front of a display, only standard application-internal mechanisms have been available. These include, for example, clicking on the MDI child window (which would have to be visible), pulling down the application's "Window" menu and selecting the child window, or tabbing to the child window via CTRL F6.
In an encapsulation shell for Lotus Freelance, a special encapsulation shell was written which allowed an MDI child window to be brought to the front of a display by clicking on an icon for the MDI child window. This was accomplished by the object file management system making a direct call to a Windows operating system routine for the child. However, for other applications, such an implementation results in an application crash.